ANATOMY OF A STING

1. From a resort in Puerto Plata, Ballard checks his phone for updates. His two scouts are at bars, meeting with contacts who have promised to provide them with underage girls for a party. 2. Sex workers, many younger than18, will be picked up here tomorrow for the supposed party. Ballard’s team has rented a house for the occasion. 3. Undercover cameras and microphones await installation in the sting house. 4. Ballard’s team counts their money; it’s what they’ll use to pay the sex traffickers. 5. It’s the night before the sting. Meanwhile, sex workers hang out in town, waiting for tourists. 6. In the morning, $100 bills are laid out on a bed so their serial numbers can be recorded. 7. The sex traffickers have arrived, money has exchanged hands, and the Transnational Criminal Investigative Unit—a group of local police officers working with the U.S. embassy— rushes in and throws everyone onto the floor. 8. More law enforcement officers arrive. 9. Both the sex traffickers and Ballard’s undercover team are led away in handcuffs. Once the criminals are out of sight, Ballard and his team will be set free.

SCENES FROM A RECENT BUST IN PUERTO PLATA, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC.